Pregnancy Update: 39.5 Weeks

Yep 39.5 weeks. (If you've been pregnant before you know that half of a week totally counts!) Our baby has been fully cooked for a couple of weeks now and could TECHNICALLY come any day. I have a feeling that she'll be coming late though. I'm not just saying that. I really, seriously feel that she is going to come late. Ry and I seem to be late everywhere we go so it's probably just inherited from us :) but I guess we'll have to wait and see. I would LOVE to be wrong here...

A few pregnancy updates are that I'm huge. AKA gargantuous. Also, I am still craving Jimmy Johns Veggie subs like crazy and also oranges. I am LOVING oranges.



They always say that the third trimester is the hardest but for me it was CAKE compared to the first and second trimesters. I was nauseous every single day of my pregnancy until 30 weeks. Then I only had nausea once in a while with throwing up only every couple of weeks as opposed to daily. However, the last few weeks have been horrible. I'm just being honest here. I have absolutely hated it. One of the biggest problems has been my carpal tunnel. My hands have become so swollen and my carpal tunnel gets really painful! It used to be that as long as I slept with my splints on my wrists I would be fine but the last couple of weeks I have had to wear them all day and all night just to deal with the pain.  At night my carpal tunnel has been waking me up every couple of hours at best. I just wake up to this burning feeling in my hands and sometimes the pain will keep me up for hours at a time.

During the day has been tough too. If I use my hands too much the pain will set in. Pretty much everything requires the use of my hands though so it gets really frustrating to constantly have to stop what I'm doing and wait for my hands to get feeling in them again. Even small things like clasping my bra, brushing my teeth, chopping an apple, doing my hair/makeup, all of these things have become difficult and painful. I have really had to rely on Ryan for so much. He has been my rock through everything and I could never say how much he has meant to me through all of this. We went out to eat and my hands were so completely numb that I was unable to use a fork and knife and Ryan actually had to cut my meat for me. I felt kind of stupid and kept hoping that no one was watching and thinking I was some prissy girl who wouldn't cut her own food. haha. I'm so grateful for Ryan though and all he does to help me!

Last week Ryan got the flu :( He was so sick and feeling horrible and had to go back to school and start his new classes feeling poorly. I felt so bad for him. I thought I had lucked out and not gotten it because I had gotten a flu shot...but sure enough it came around to me too. I have been feeling horrible all week. The worst was the body aches and night sweats. I was sleeping around 3-4 hours a night AT BEST. Finally, towards the end of the week I just broke down and balled. I was so exhausted and in so much pain. Ryan had already given me a priesthood blessing a few days earlier and as I sat there and cried he just hugged me and asked if I wanted another one and I just nodded-I couldn't even get out the words. It meant so much to me to have him there, supporting me and comforting me. That priesthood blessing really did give me strength and comfort. It hasn't made the pain go away but I feel that Heavenly Father is helping me to get through it.

Later that night as I lie in bed I felt so sorry for myself. I had been sick pretty much my whole pregnancy. I was yearning for my healthy, normal, energized self. I had carpal tunnel so bad that it felt like my hands had been run over and crushed by a truck, I was so congested and sick I could not even breathe, my head hurt, I had pressure/pain in my ears, my throat hurt, my back hurt, my hips hurt. UGH I was just feeling like a miserable human being. and then this happened...

Without saying anything, Ryan came and sat on the edge of the bed and just started rubbing my feet to help me relax and try to help me fall asleep. All of a sudden I started to silently cry and cry and cry. I looked down at my sweet husband and just silently prayed to God and thanked him for giving me such a wonderful man. All of a sudden, despite the discomfort and pain, I just felt LUCKY. I have such a wonderful husband and we are having a baby we created together who will be joining our family so soon. I love my Ryan with all of my heart.

I secretly snapped this picture of Ryan while he was rubbing my feet. Probably my favorite picture of him of all time.
I just see and feel so much love when I look at this picture. I'm a very lucky woman.

Sometimes icing my hands/wrists helps the pain!

Don't be jealous. I know I should be a hand model :) You can't tell as much in the picture
but my fingers are so swollen. They are seriously like sausagey man hands. 

My wedding ring won't even fit on my pinky! My hands are so, so swollen! It's bad.

This. hah this is pretty much what pregnancy has looked like for me the last few weeks :) 

On a happier note, my friend Jessica Benscotter is an amazing photographer and volunteered to take some maternity pictures for us! It was so sweet of her! Here are some of our favorites so far. This is how I would like to remember pregnancy... haha this was at the happiest/best time of my pregnancy. I was pretty much just getting over nausea and my carpal tunnel hadn't hit yet. I'm about 30 or 31 weeks in these photos...I can't remember exactly. Love the pictures though!